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Write-in Ron Paul or vote for Obama?

Here is a draft I prepared but did not finish this morning. At the last moment I changed my mind once more and did vote for Ron Paul.

Below are the reasons why I planned to vote for Obama. But before publishing it, I realized I was trying to side with the winner, (though I would never vote for McCain). I can still bet that Obama will win, be right, and also vote for Ron Paul. I voted about 27 minutes ago. One minute before the box was sealed.

For full disclosure, I also wrote in Stephen Colbert and Bill Gates.

(Drafted at 8am Nov 4th)

I’ve been saying I will write-in Ron Paul. But I’ve changed my mind today.

I DO NOT want to see McCain anywhere near the White House or the Pentagon.

For those of you who are disappointed, or surprised, well, here is the thing, I’ve been campaigning for Ron Paul and sending him my donations. (Which by the way crushed McCain’s 3rd quarter). I’ve advertised him prominently on the front page of The Spin Factor. I convinced many friends that they should vote for Ron Paul.

I’ve always sympathized with and respected Senator Biden; More recently, I’ve come to disagree with Biden on internet privacy (encryption), capital punishment,  drug laws and most economic positions, but this is right on:

“In 2007, Biden voted against a measure to declare the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization. He wrote in December 2007 that ‘War with Iran is not just a bad option. It would be a disaster.’”

Biden has at times objected to AIPAC lobbyists. On the other hand, Biden would continue to push embargos against Cuba (and against you).

In short, Biden has his heart in the right place, generally (humanitarianism). Given that the office of President of the United States is predominantly focused on foreign affairs approving laws, the military branch and media appearances, Biden’s influence on the Presidency should be positive overall. Not to mention, his biting humor and strong character ought to put misbehaved Republicans in their place.

I was leaning slightly toward Obama before I heard about Ron Paul around February of 2007. He has been quoted as saying that he favors a mixed economic policy that works, which is pragmatic enough for me, especially since what works is conservative economics supported by a thin but reasonable welfare net. Nevertheless, he thinks private social security is “social darwinism”.

I think Obama is plain wrong on raising the minimum wage federally, since the de facto purchasing power of a dollar differs between localities. If $7 an hour is more than enough at a small farming community, it hardly pays for lunch at a place like Avalon, CA.

On the other hand, Obama wants to reduce taxes to 1990 levels.

I have work to do, so I’m unashamedly copypasting from Wikipedia, but this is why I favor Obama over McCain. It is also why I despise McCain:

Returning to that theme on May 18, 2008, Obama told a crowd in Pendleton, Oregon that “strong countries and strong presidents talk to their adversaries. … That’s what Reagan did with Gorbachev.” He continued, “Iran, Cuba, Venezuela — these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don’t pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. And yet we were willing to talk to the Soviet Union at the time when they were saying, ‘We’re going to wipe you off the planet.’”

After John McCain criticized those remarks as evidence of Obama’s “inexperience and reckless judgment,” Obama responded that the United States should have “the courage and confidence” to talk to its adversaries. “Demanding that a country meets all your conditions before you meet with them, that’s not a strategy. It’s just naive, wishful thinking.”

This earns Obama Ron Paul gold stars. Lots of them.

It also awards McCain Giuliani swastikas. Lots of them.

Unfortunately, Obama did vote for the Patriot act and its reauthorization. He is somewhat more favorable on civil liberties, though he could be better once the pressure of appealing to social conservatives dissipates.

In the end, both voted for the bail-out, which was a rather dogmatic move.

And Palin, well, she was basically put on McCain’s ticket to get the media’s attention. I don’t mean to say that Palin isn’t a good choice. I simply mean that she favored Ron Paul and we know little else about her actual views. She had to dissimulate so much during her interviews, that she sounded confused and inconsistent. She should run on a libertarian platform in eight years and disown McCain after this election is over.

And Ron Paul? I disagree with him on state and religion and his confederate leanings. I also think he is pedantic on the Constitution, and inconsistent on immigration.

Everything else, foreign policy, civil liberties,  economic policy (except for gold), I like.

If I were to put down only one definitive reason why Ron Paul doesn’t deserve to be written in, it is because of his silence regarding the infamous newsletters. He may have been protecting Lew Rockwell, or vice-versa; perhaps for the sake of the Mises Institute or the image of Austrian Economics, but the explanation on the writings were never satisfactory to me.

Obama comes closest to what I like about Ron Paul, namely foreign affairs and the war…

…(End of unfinished draft).

—

At the last moment someone reminded me that Obama would win the presidency. I crossed Obama’s name off and wrote RON PAUL.

Will I regret my choice if Obama loses to McCain? Maybe. More as I will update this entry through the night.

(11:28PM) It didn’t take long to see who won, so I didn’t get to consider in depth whether I would have regretted an Obama loss.

November 4th, 2008 Posted by eaglescout | 2008 Election, Freedom, Libertarianism, McCain, Obama, Opinion, Politics, Ron Paul, Truth, Vote, World | 20 comments